Music and Art Reign at the Rosendale Street Festival

Sigh…another beautiful weekend, another fun festival in the Hudson Valley. I mean, it’s the middle of summer. What better time to come out in support of the Rosendale Street Festival, an annual grassroots event highlighting local bands, artisans, and food vendors?

Andy set up shop at our friend Scott’s gallery/studio on Saturday and Sunday to coincide with the Rosendale Street Festival, so we got to enjoy this event up close and personal (yay!). He gathered all the art that’s been sitting around, as well as the super awesome brand new stuff (Bill Murray posters!), we stocked up on cheap beer, and I gathered all the festival accessories (sparkly tie? check! soft leather trucker hat? check!) that have lain in wait since last summer. If we couldn’t have Camp Bisco this year, then we’d just have to live it up at Rosendale.

How incredible is it that the Rosendale Street Festival just celebrated its 35th year? Plus, it’s run entirely by volunteers! They get applications for musical artists from hundreds of miles away, but only local bands are accepted. That’s the whole point: highlighting the Hudson Valley’s talent and boosting the local economy via donations. What a beautiful thing this festival is!

Dedicated townspeople have worked eleven months each year to put the festival together for thirty-five years. I love it; this is the kind of event that makes me proud of Ulster County.

Saturday afternoon was super hot and humid (some might even say oppressive?); thankfully, Sunday was much nicer and brought a steadier stream of visitors into the gallery.

Scott is this year’s poster artist for the nearby Woodstock Film Festival- both the posters and T-shirts with his designs are for sale here. I love that the festival’s slogan is “Fiercely Independent”. It’s wonderfully indicative of the Hudson Valley as a region, Woodstock, and the festival itself.

Exhausting as the first day in Rosendale was, Andy and I somehow managed to make it to our friend Henry’s show in the next village over, High Falls. Henry and his band, the Sunday Flies, put on such a fun, lively performance! I wish we could have stayed longer, but I was sort of half asleep, so we left a bit early 🙂

The festival featured a couple of mini parades…

There was so much to see. It was tough because our main purpose at the festival was holding down the gallery, so Andy, Scott, and I would take turns wandering around (it was fun returning to see what pieces had sold in our absence!).

Our friend Karen owns a crafts & gift business in downtown Kingston called Karmabee. She sells all kinds of art & other locally made goods, in addition to clothing, notecards, and more with her own whimsical designs. I give her a lot of credit for running her store and getting out to as many fairs and festivals as she does.

I wish I had as much courage as I used to, in terms of asking strangers for their photograph. What happened, self? It’s such a simple thing; Brandon of Humans of New York does it countless times every day. I still ask, occasionally, but most of the time I get from-behind shots.

This one didn’t come out too poorly 🙂

Of course, sometimes I get caught trying to be sneaky…

We know two of the guys in Yard Sale, so Andy made sure to see them play. Another great band: folky, funky and lots of catchy songs. From their website: Yard Sale tunes are sung from the heart in 3-part harmony with a sense of pride, purpose, and dark humor… they also invoke the soulful beauty of R&B, the uplifting anthems of gospel, the lonesome melancholy of bluegrass, and the steamrolling syncopation of early 20th century riverboat minstrels and hobo jug bands. Yay for local music!

Two members of Yard Sale are also part of another band, Los Cajones. They played a  moonlit set at a surprise after-party on Sunday night: watching everyone dancing and relaxing on the grass was such a satisfying end to the festival.

It was such a fun, stimulating, productive and happy weekend. A bunch of friends came by the gallery on Saturday to hang out, which was especially nice. And Andy sold a lot of his merchandise, hurray! People loved the T-shirts, stencils on vinyl records, and pop art stencils on canvas. We love events like this because Andy receives so much positive feedback- artists don’t often get that kind of instant gratification 🙂

Of course, I’ve always loved his photography the most.

Have you been to any street fairs or festivals lately? Do you have a favorite artist, local or otherwise?

 

 

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In summer, the song sings itself.   –William Carlos Williams

 Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit.  A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all’s right with the world.    –Ada Louise Huxtable